i dont really care about the MC being ugly in the past since the artist chooses not to even show her past face. as a plot device, its brought up maybe four or five times in the first 30 chapters and now at 80+ nobody cares. i'm more annoyed on why said ugly curse was made into such a big deal at the start but then the author just dropped all that mess and turned the series into a romance adventure story. as a story, it just doesn't stand out from the other kingdom builder regression types. the MC overcomes any personal battles regarding her appearance, reputation, or combat ability in the first 20 chapters. the rest is just moving onto a stronger weapon, a more levelled up blessing, a stronger ally, a higher position, etc. etc.

Like people said, the original premise of her being ugly isn't great. I mean that's one thing, but the only thing we knew made her "hideous" was that she was muscular, which make sense for a swordswoman, and that she got kinda messy short hair. Once the curse get broken she get slender and have long hair for some reason. I mean... I could have let it go better if the curse made her an actual monster with scales or whatever? I really hate that it imply a more masculine looking woman isn't worthy of love until she gets feminine and slender...
Second. Holy crap I kept wishing the obvious ML choice wasn't true because they got 0 chemistry. I would rather not have romance at all than that forced crush out of nowhere. It's painful to read.
On the good points... I like the minor side characters and was happy to see them grow, but tbh that doesn't save the comic.
In short: bland boring manwha and the romance makes it worst instead of more bearable. It's not an abomination per se but it's under average for sure.

... Last updated on February 7th, 2024, 4:19am

I think what's so frustrating about this story is that she wanted to make a story about a strong woman and then goes so far out of her way in so many chapters to talk about how ugly muscles are. It's a bizarre take and makes no sense, the MC should have arm and shoulder muscles and they're not even an ugly trait. It's actively frustrating that the MC is shown to be slim petite and have no arm muscles while being a sword master wielding a two handed weapon. It would require intense suspension of disbelief even if it wasn't a plot point, but at least if they hadn't tried to make her muscles into an "Ugly" trait, the defense that it's an art style would be available. It comes up chapter after chapter that her physique was "like an ogre". I did think choosing not to show her face when she as ugly was an interesting move- it let the reader wonder/fill in what made her ugly. The Author should not have gone after her skin tone, hair length, and build as monstrous. Honestly, as a lesbian, she frankly was hotter before.

Honestly, this story doesn't deserve the low ratings it gets. A bunch of people seem to have submitted 1-stars because the FL starts out looking tanned+manly then becomes conventionally pale+pretty, and that appears to hit a sore spot for some audiences, in a similar way when they get upset when an overweight/obese FL loses weight ASAP (esp. when the appearance change is irrelevant & shallow).

Personally I'm not a fan of the skin color change either - that kind of depiction of "ugliness" is lazy (if artist's decision) and/or dumb (if author's decision), and doesn't reflect well on the creators since it gives the impression of racist & sexist undertones. IDK why they couldn't have her develop a proboscis, boils, or something else truly ugly rather than making her seem like an average tanned dude, especially since the whole thing is reversed super quickly. That said, the above (which can be ignored if you skip the first ~5 chapters) is basically the only significant "flaw" of the story so far.

The MC is characterized well, and breaks the mold for the genre - she's a bit headstrong (but is composed and not temperamental), stubborn in a good way, ambitious, indifferent to the approaches of the people trying to benefit off her, has good interpersonal relationships, and perhaps most importantly looks out for others. The character interactions (except for one antagonist, who is frustratingly entitled) are natural & realistic, and the art is great - I love how her eyes have this aurora borealis type of look.

The plot is middle-of-the-road - it's not the most unique in the world, but it's enough to keep the story interesting for a weekend binge. We see her working towards her professional goals, and it looks like this will be a slow-burn story (there hasn't been any hint of romantic relationships yet) since thus far it has focused on the knight orders & development of their skills. There are some hints of political intrigue in the background but it looks like that'll be highlighted more in S2.

The biggest weakness is that there's some emphasis clumsily put on the FL's appearance, meant to highlight the difference in her life then vs. now, but I'm not sure how I feel about it & it's not a major plot point (?) so I just ignore it. She's a little OP - it took her 3 months (like 2 chaps?) to reawaken her aura after regression but meh, OPness is basically a staple of all male-MC isekai/regression stories (therefore female-MC with similar kind of plot should get a pass), and it's not shown in an obnoxious way so it's not a problem.

Worth a read if you're bored, it's definitely better than a bunch of stories out there (ones with dumbdumb MCs, crappy love interests, illogical behavior, etc) 🙂

Stories with a similar kind of theme (knights), FL (strong), or mood (shounen/seinen feel with female MC) are The Red Knight Seeks No Reward, Falling for the Enemy, Philia Rose, Regina Rena, I Can See Your Death.

... Last updated on August 15th, 2022, 2:59pm

"The author had so much potential with the story but it’s so bland." by Snoopy219

Can't find any particularly good thing about this one and is to put simply, boring.
Art is rough, it looks nice at times but it's always a fleeting feeling, more like I like the colouring but not the style itself, add to that that the action is very bad and the abused use of the cartoony style and yeah, not my thing.
Story is completely unremarkable, it starts off as a "The Duchess with an empty soul" copy and changes some parts from there, like her being a swordmaster instead of a summoner, also, the MC in this one seems more... independent or self-reliant, but time will tell. In any case, it's an overdone story with nothing particularly good about it and it's rather incongruous and shallow, the manhwa doesn't make much effort to explain things. Maybe the novel is better?
Characters... again, unremarkable, if anything, there are more of the annoying kind of characters (the selfish prince, the jealous secondary chars, the annoying blue hair guy, etc.) and those that are supposed to be the "interesting ones", the FL and whom I think is the ML, are rather bland and boring.

... Last updated on July 2nd, 2022, 1:11am

Didn’t rub the me the right way the way they made fl ugly in the past life by making her appear dark and muscular but in her ‘prettier’ version she’s way lighter.
The author had so much potential with the story but it’s so bland. Just another generic revenge story with an evil crown prince and yes… same old black haired ml.